#JagranForum: Inclusive structure leads to strengthening democracy

New Delhi: Every daily newspaper is burdened with immense pressure of compiling hundreds of incidents happened in the entire day by the same night. Weeks, months and years pass but the pressure of this daily phenomenon refuses to die down. Long ago, amidst this stormy lifestyle a question arose that if our far sighted vision is getting blurred due to stress of urgency.

We stress upon the events, but we have no time to understand their past and present. Is the calibre to ponder over numerous incidences with an overall vision on the wane? Due to this noble thought, the Dainik Jagran Group gave birth to Jagran Forum 10 years ago. The stress upon urgency of events in a newspaper is natural. The articles on the editorial page may have a far sighted vision, but usually its reference too is limited to a specific time period. Therefore, the fear remains there that we don't forget society while trying to count people and we don't forget perfection and wideness of forest while counting trees. We hoped that Jagran Forum will introduce daily journalism to new dimensions of perfection, far-sightedness and wideness. The eight events of Jagran Forum in the past 10 years have served the expectations of our audience and readers.

We hope that due to the improvements done on the basis of experience, the 9th conclave of Jagran Forum to be held on 10th December would be able to guide us in a better manner. Like always, this time too democracy is prime focus of dialogue, but two changes have been made in its landscape. The first change is of the medium. Hindi has been capable of transmitting serious thoughts, therefore this time, English will be accepted as an exception. The second is related to the subject-extension. In the earlier conclaves, political, financial, national and international aspects were highlighted. This time, the cultural-religious aspects have also been added. Here the personal interests and disinterests are of no value, but what's important is that the role of cultural-religious topics in our public life has become more important. We should find a solution of dispute through holding dialogue. Overall, discussions have been arranged in the political, financial and cultural sub-categories. It has been tried to understand problems at national and regional levels. In this context, provision for special session has been made for small states.

The inclusive form of democracy and its temporal reference have been kept at the center in the conclave. This is true that democracy is the mechanism of public and that is why it will include the entire public naturally. Truth is not so simple. In a large part of this world, this inclusive democracy is only on papers. On the basis of region, language, religion, community, breed or finance, many deprived categories don't even have a status of voters. In many countries, the army, monarchy and Sheikh regime have already been dominating the power corridor. In many countries, role of original representatives have been limited to the Parliament. In contrary, India's democracy is becoming inclusive. During initial elections, a major chunk of Indian electorate was not active as voters. Awareness increased with the passage of time. Like many processes, Mandalisation and Dalitisation have introduced every class of people with the magical effect of election and political activity. Today, we can consider our democracy as an all-inclusive. If we define category on the basis of religion, caste, language, business, financial level, gender, community, we will find that every category of our democracy has been given representation. This all-inclusive structure has made our democracy strong but has burdened our political system. There are clashes among the demands of various sections. It's not possible to fulfill all the demands. Other sections consider many demands as improper. The solution to these problems needs patience, balance, coordination and cooperation. We hope that speakers of Jagran Forum will enlighten us in this context.